Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan (100m Hurdles) and South Africa’s Van Niekerk (400m), world record holders in their specialties, missed out on their subjects in Budapest by finishing respectively 6th and 7th at the end of the finals. This poor performance thus deprives Africa from the medals that everyone was expecting at these World championships.
The setback of these two champions can easily be explained by the situation they experienced before the World Championships in Budapest. The Nigerian, suspended for suspicion of doping (missed control), finally got qualified a few days before the first heat of the 100m Hurdles. She had started the competition well, easily passing the first two rounds. But, she did not have enough resources, in the final, to equal her main opponents. Thus, Danielle Williams (JAM) 12''43, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico) 12''44, and Kendra Harrison (USA) 12''46 monopolized the podium, leaving Amusan (12'') in 6th place 62).
Injured on the knee in 2017 while playing rugby, Wayde Van Niekerk took several years to recover his feelings. It was on the eve of the Budapest World championships that he began to nurture ambitions of winning the track lap. He could only finish 7th in the Final in 45''11. Jamaica’s Antonio Watson (44''22) was crowned ahead of British Matthew Hudson-Smith (44''31) and America’s Quincy Hall (44''37).
Hope for medals rest on the 7th day (today) on the Ivorian Marie-Jose Ta Lou; Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh and Batswana’s Letsile Tebogo who will be on the starting line for the Men's and Women's 200m finals.
African medals: 5 Gold; 5 Silver; 3 Bronze
Gold
10,000m (Men and Women)
3000m steeple (Men)
1500m (Women)
Triple jump (Men)
Silver
10,000m (M and W)
3000m steeple (M)
1500m (W)
100m (M)
Bronze
10,000m (M and W)
3000m steeple (M)